GOLD PROSPECTING

Hokitika Guardian, 14 November 1933, Page 6

GOLD PROSPECTING

SOUTH island exploration.

PROSPECTING UNKNOWN AREAS

(Per Press Association — Copyright.)

WELLINGTON, November 13

If the economic depression does nothing else for New Zealand _jt will have resulted in the exploration of some, of the wild and -almost impenetrable

•bush country of the South Island. In' the north-western end of the island there lies a large area which is still practically untouched, and into this territory unemployed gold prospectors are now beginning to penetrate, working under subsidy from the Unemployment Board,

The board has recently received a l°ng report from -an engineer whom it employed through the agency of the W,aiinca County Council, describing a trip in search of further ground on which to place unemployed men as subsidised prospectors. The engineer was able to use some of the old tracks, but the Murchison earthquake carried away sections, and ho has detailed the work needed to -make ,a pack track to a mountain saddle- within three .miles of promising, ground which he ha® located. Working from another direction into the same class of country, a second engineer, in -a preliminary report, s tateg that while time did not permit of detailed prospecting there are sufficient indications to warrant intensive prospecting work. The old track, the general route of which he utilised where possible, has been badly damaged by earthquake, at some places having slipped so as to leave sheer rocky bluffs, around which ledges would have to be cut for tracks.

Of still another practically unknown area, bearing one of the romantically expressive names that were so often the bestowal of early miners, the engineer says: “Judging by the accounts of a few diggers who have been into this area- there is undoubtedly gold there, -but the difficulty has always been the getting in of supplies.” His report recommends practical methods of tackling the problem of access and this is what must first be done before unemployed are sent into the wilds in the hunt for gold. Pack-track cutting in this rough country is an active .business at present, and every mile- opens out fresh prospects for gold production. The board contemplates putting in log huts at strategic points, as part- of the system of maintaining communications, and it has just arranged for eight pack-horses to be secured so that suitable animals for this rough work will be. available to those -who will keep the prospecting camps supplied with food.